Confined Space Drone Survey Does Size Matter ?
North East drone experts DJM Aerial Solutions recently excecuted several confined space surveys alongside Teesside structural engineering professionals Scurator. The two firms collaborated on a complex project at the Wilton site for Sembcorp in attempt to conclude an issue within a small filtration unit with minimal access points.
Process and engineering giant Sembcorp instructed structural engineering experts Scurator to proceed with a complex series of inspections within a limited access confined space on their wilton site. The Teesside based structural engineers called on the expertees of DJM Aerial Solutions in attempt to resolve the access issue remotely.
Greg Sills, managing director for Scurator, added, “we have worked alongside the Teesside drone company numerous times and understood their capabilities within remote confined space inspection, we understood that to access these units we would require a remote solution to gather the data and allow us to come up with a schedule to conclude any defective issues”
Dan Maine, Managing Director of DJM mentioned, “we have come across several scenarios regarding confined space inspection where we are able to utilise either the Elios or our custom built rover to analize internally. This project however required a different set of tools.
Confined Space Inspection
DJM Aerial Solutions are well versed in terms of confined space inspection and remote survey utilising their expansive fleet of high specification equipment inclusive of the Flyability Elios, And custom built rover, however this project proved challenging in terms of access points.
The main and most direct access point into these filtration units was via a small drain outlet of around 150mm inside diameter DJM Aerial usual kit the Elios is more than double that dimension.
Another solution was to ask the client to remove the supply piping at the forward end of the filtration unit which would allow entry of the Elios, this was executed by the client and analysed by DJM Aerial Solutions and Scurator accordingly where it was found to house concrete baffling with letter box sized entry points into the main filter area. The Elios was not able to carry out this project.
Tank Inspection Solution
Dan Maine mentioned, “Our usual method for confined space survey involves utilising our industry leading Flyability Elios, to navigate internally which we utilise for storage tank inspection, pressure vessel survey, internal stack inspections etc, however due to the baffle configuration within this filtration unit The Flyability Elios was unfortunately not an option.” Dan added, “we came up with a secondary solution utilisising a nano drone called the Ryze Tello”
Adding a protective cage around this nano drone we were able to successfully enter the filtration unit through one of the letterbox entry points within the baffle and navigate the space gathering data required for the inspection routine.
Confined space survey deliverables
Once satisfied that sufficient data was collated DJM Aerial and Scurator were able to analyze remotely any remedial requirements or defective issues around the structural integrity and support assembly associated with the filtration unit.
Scurator put together a comprehensive analytical schedule reporting on any negative findings that may be detremental to the longevity of the asset.
Storage tank Inspection north east
If you would like to discuss your drone survey requirements using drone technology, then please either get in touch with our team via this link to our contact page or Call us on +44 (0) 1642 903779 We’d be more than happy to speak to you and go through the process.